Oh, yeah, I have two teenage daughters and a husband as well – but somehow they never seem to take up nearly as much space as our dogs.

My dogs don’t do lonely very well. Or to be honest, not at all.

You know those last precious minutes just before the alarm goes off in the morning? That’s when one, or both of them, puts their snout under my sheets and snorts, repeatedly. I’m not a morning person, but just about any attention is amazing to them, so they simply laugh at my angry growls and keep at it until I get up.

They’re the kind of dogs that won’t leave my side, and that’s wonderfully, breathtakingly heartwarming. Until I have to visit the bathroom, and they sit there in front of me, staring curiously. It’s also a really weird feeling to walk out of the shower to find both of them staring at my naked body. What’s even weirder is that I still get embarrassed by it, and cover up with a towel. Also, you know how it’s nicer to let your body lotion dry off before putting clothes on? Well, my dogs love lotion, so either I hurry getting dressed, or they’ll lick it off.

Cooking is an interesting experience, with them trailing behind me between sink, counter, and stove. Did I mention that they’re big? I’m sure you can imagine what it’s like when I’m in a hurry, rushing around in the kitchen with a blur of black dogs around my feet.

One of them likes to keep his head on my lap when I sit at the kitchen table, and he can stand there through a whole meal, just resting his big head softly on my leg. Looking down, I invariably find him watching me, and there’s such endless adoration in those eyes that most of the time I can’t make myself push him away, even though they’re not allowed at the table when we eat.

I’m convinced that they have one big brain-cell each, and it’s either on… or it’s off.

When it comes to finding or obtaining food, they’re incredibly clever. Suddenly, they can open doors and drawers without any problems at all, and we have yet to find a puzzle-toy that they haven’t figured out in no time at all.

Then when I pretend to toss a ball without releasing it, they run like crazy through our back yard, searching frantically for it. Finally, they come back looking happily at my hand holding the ball. “Fantastic, there it is!” they seem to think. So I fake-throw again, and off they go…

They’re certainly not the kind of dogs that fits everyone, but I can’t imagine life without them, and there’s one thing I know for sure – life is never boring when you have dogs like ours.

Now the weekend is coming up, and since autumn has hit Scandinavia the weather ranges from cold and wet to… colder and wetter. It doesn’t matter to our dogs, so I know I’ll spend a chunk of time in a raincoat, tossing a ball or just goofing around, and loving it!

Autumn has come to Scandinavia, and it isn’t cold exactly but there’s a chill in the air, which means that we don’t leave the back door open all day long. It also means that I’m facing this, all day long…